


Chase

by Mimm



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 07:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13119138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimm/pseuds/Mimm
Summary: John and Todd visit a Wraith planet to negotiate a treaty. While they wait, they share a room. Post-series, with Todd as a recent addition to John's team.





	Chase

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dragonflower1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonflower1/gifts).



> I went in with three possible plans, but the guys decided to go with a fourth. I had no choice but to follow them. I hope this works for you.
> 
> A big, squishy thank you to Siennavie for the beta. Any remaining oddities are mine.

"You may not like it, Sheppard, but I am very likely the only reason you remain alive," Todd said as they walked down the dark corridor. The walls resembled those on hive ships, like they had been grown rather than constructed, but these were simpler.

John narrowed his eyes at Todd's words.

"I'd like to think this helps," he said, tapping at the gun resting on his side.

Every cell in his body was telling him to grab his gun, have it poised and ready for any wraith that appeared from the many doorways they passed. Instead, he had to let the gun rest idly against his thigh. He didn't like it, but at least the wraith hadn't forced him to give it away.

"Whatever comforts you," Todd said, and John hated the hint of amusement he could hear in his voice. "But it would be best for you to appear less hostile. I am their ally and kin. You are merely my associate."

It wasn't an exaggeration, John admitted to himself, though he would never say it out loud. Even after several months of working together as a team with the wraith, John refused to show any sign of inferiority or weakness, in any situation. It wasn't because he didn't trust Todd to not take advantage of it. He simply couldn't stand the smug expression Todd got on his face whenever he had the upper hand.

"They invited us both for this meeting," John said. "I'd say I'm more than an associate."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But with a gun pointed at our host's personnel, I suspect you would soon become his dinner rather than a guest."

John gritted his teeth, his fingertips caressing the gun as he walked down the dark underground corridor, wondering just why he had agreed to come to this place. Wraith hive ships were one thing, but a whole planet made up of wraith cities and wraith buildings, an ever expanding wraith community? The past year had brought with it several changes in the Pegasus Galaxy, but this was one of his least favourites. He hated to admit it, but it felt good to have at least one mostly trustworthy wraith on his side.

*

"That didn't go well," John said as the door behind them closed with a slightly repulsive, meaty sound. He took a look around, mapping the area, but all he saw was a small, dimly-lit room that was very similar to the style he had seen on hive ships. Nothing alarming about it, he thought. Very low on furniture and decoration.

"On the contrary," Todd said, walking to what resembled a table. "So far, no one has been imprisoned or fed on."

On the table, there was a small jug half full of dark, brownish liquid, and Todd poured some of it in two glasses, offering one to John who took it with a suspicious look. It smelled like whatever it was had turned bad weeks ago. He cringed.

"You finally decide to eat and drink like civilized people, and this is all you've got?"

He went to put it back on the table and walked up to the only thing in the room one could sit on: a bed.

"How long do these negotiations take?" he asked, inspecting the bed from all angles, testing its spring with his fingertips. It didn't look as unpleasant and unclean as most things in the room, and he was grateful for that. Carefully, he sat on it. It felt solid under his weight.

"It varies," Todd said, drinking his own glassful in one gulp, then picking up the other one John had discarded. "Not long if the Queen is pleased with our proposal and agrees. Longer if any conflicts arise. Two days at the most. After that... hmm. Let's hope it doesn't go past two days."

Two days stuck on this hell planet, John thought to himself. With thousands upon thousands of wraith walking around freely, quite a few of them aware of the fact that there was a human guest among them. Not a very pleasant prospect. He really wished he had his puddle jumper to hide in instead of this unguarded room.

At least they all couldn't feed on him, he comforted himself. One or two, and he would be dead. Unless they kept him a prisoner, of course. Yeah, he really needed something cheerier to think of. They had been invited. There was no reason for him to fear for his life. Not yet, anyway.

He looked around and frowned. He saw a cabinet and a few pod-like spaces, and a doorway leading to what looked like it could have been a bathroom. Something was missing.

"Is this supposed to be a one-wraith or two-wraith room?" he asked.

Todd looked at him silently, from head to toe, like he was assessing him. There was that annoying expression of smug amusement on his face again. He had been different all day, ever since they had left their puddle jumper, but John couldn't figure out why.

Turning his back to John, Todd emptied the glass, making a low gurgling sound in his throat - one that John had never quite learned to get used to - and set the glass on the table next to the other one.

"One," he said before turning around and facing John, his head tilted a little to the side.

There was a smirk curling the side of his mouth. It made John feel uneasy, though he wasn't sure why. He was fairly certain Todd wasn't going to feed on him. Almost completely certain. It hadn't happened beyond that one time years ago, and that was back when Todd needed to do it to survive. There were other options now.

Well, there was that other time when Todd had already placed his gloved hand on John's chest in anger, as if guided there by muscle memory, realizing in a fraction of a second what he was doing and who he was doing it to. He had pushed himself away while John's gun was pressing against his stomach.

John had the faint urge to pick up his gun again, just in case.

"Then maybe you should keep the room," he offered, slowly getting up. "I doubt I'll get much sleep anyway."

"And where would you go?" Todd asked, still looking at him like a cat that had caught a prey.

"Out."

"That is hardly a wise idea," Todd said, and there was an unusual glint in his eyes. He lifted his gloved hands and finger by finger he pulled them off, dropping them on the table.

He wasn't wrong, and John knew it. He probably wouldn't last beyond a few minutes, one man against a planetful of wraith.

"Then you take the bed," he said, his mouth a little dry now. "I'll just sit on the floor over there by the door."

Todd took a few slow steps towards him, still looking like he was enjoying the situation a bit too much. In the back of his mind, John was already tracing back their way from this room to the outer gates. Turn left from the door, then run like the devil was after you.

"I did not plan on sleeping," Todd said, now so close to John he could feel the soft air current following the words. John's skin tingled.

During the past few months, he had become accustomed to seeing those lizard-like eyes and sickly pale skin with the curious face markings from up close, had even touched them while tending to Todd's occasional wounds, but now Todd had turned back to being an alien, as foreign as any other wraith.

"Ok," John said, swallowing, raising his chin a little. "Then what?"

John's heart was pounding against his ribcage, and he hoped Todd couldn't see it. Though of course he must have seen it. Felt it. Probably smelled it, too. John's hand was pressed against his gun and he turned the safety off. If he was fast enough, he could probably take the shot before Todd strangled him or fed on him.

He lowered his eyes for a second, to check where Todd's hands were, and he heard a laughter, guttural and creepy. He looked up and saw Todd's teeth, then his eyes. Still laughing, Todd turned around, walking to the table and pouring himself another drink. He leaned his shoulder against the cabinet in a strangely casual manner, all the menace from his body language gone now.

John frowned with confusion as he turned the safety back on.

"You are a strange one, Sheppard," Todd said, taking a sip. "In the battlefield, you kill a group of blood-thirsty wraith without effort. But now, with a single non-hostile, unarmed wraith..."

He chuckled to himself.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" John asked, his heart still racing a little as the adrenaline left his system. He balled his hands into fists to stop the involuntary shaking. He felt like he had lost control, and it was a feeling he had always hated. John Sheppard didn't lose control.

"You've been acting weird ever since we left Atlantis. What are you planning?"

"Nothing," Todd said. "I am fine. Drink? I assure you, the taste far outweighs the smell."

"I'm good. Wait, are you drunk, is that it?"

Todd flashed a quick, almost predatory grin.

"I take that as a yes," John said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "This is _not_ what I need right now."

He glanced at the jug. It was empty now. At least there was that.

"How strong is that stuff?" he asked, still wondering how it was even possible for the wraith to get drunk. Drinking fluids was only a recent development. Was inebriation also a recent development or had it always been there, in some other way? He needed to have a serious discussion with Carson when they returned to Atlantis.

Todd walked slowly towards him until he was standing right in front of him, and John had to bend his neck back to look up at his towering figure. He was looking down at John, and there was a peculiar look in his eyes now. It worried John a little but he wasn't as intimidated as he had been a moment ago. Now he knew what he was up against, more or less.

"Not strong at all," Todd said. "It's a common fruit extract. I am no more intoxicated than you right now."

Todd took off his long coat and threw it on the table next to John, revealing his bare arms and a black ornate undershirt John had seen a few times. Once again he felt the urge to follow the silvery lines with his finger, to find where they ended. He had never seen Todd take it off, not even when wounded. He closed his eyes to shake away his straying thoughts. When he opened his eyes again, Todd was kneeling on the floor, very close to him, so that they were face to face. He inhaled in surprise.

"Did you not wonder why no one escorted us here?" Todd asked him.

That…was a good question, John thought to himself. He was always alert, always paid attention, but that detail had gone completely unnoticed. A soldier had met them by the gate as they had arrived on foot, but that particular escort had left their company long before they had arrived at their host's chambers.

Todd rested one of his hands on John's knee. The feeding hand. Instantly, John felt tremors up his spine, but he didn't force the hand away.

"I know these corridors," Todd continued, tracing the inner side of John's thigh with his thumb as he slid his hand further up, reaching for John's gun and taking it away. John didn't stop him.

"I've walked along them many times."

John looked Todd in those strange yellow eyes of his, transfixed. He felt the bed give way a little as Todd leaned closer to him, his hands on either side of John's hips pressing into the mattress. Todd's voice vibrated throughout John's body as he spoke:

"You, John Sheppard, are sitting on my bed."

*

The words didn't register at first, because John's whole focus was on trying to remain calm, to hide his body's obvious reaction to Todd's touch. He was very aware of Todd's skin gently touching the side of his face. He felt the stray hairs tickling at his neck. He smelled their earthy, vaguely green smell, like Todd had been sleeping in a forest. He had been close to Todd before, but this felt completely different.

"Your bed?" he asked, his voice hoarse, and he had to clear his throat. "This is your room?"

He felt Todd's breath on his neck as the man spoke.

"It has been assigned to me, yes."

In his mind, John saw Todd's quarters on Atlantis. John hadn't been there more than two or three times and very briefly at that, but he could remember the place looking empty, almost abandoned. Very similar to this one.

"You're not big on decorating." He tried to joke to gain control of the situation, because he could feel his body wanting to press against Todd's and it worried him a little. "If you'd told me, I would've brought you something. Maybe a painting."

Todd chuckled, his beard causing a tingling sensation as it touched John's skin. John closed his eyes, gave in to curiosity, and pressed his cheek against Todd's smooth skin. He raised his hand, sliding it up along Todd's bare arm before reaching up to cup the side of Todd's face, his palm resting over the thick mane of hair.

Did the wraith kiss, he wondered idly.

There came a sharp, grating noise as if from an alarm that had gone off, and it took a moment for John to understand that it was the door. He opened his eyes, his mind still fuzzy. When Todd retreated in one single, swift move towards his coat to pick it up and put it on, the warmth and weight of his body gone, John felt disappointed.

Todd gave him an inquisitive look, and he stood up, picking up his gun and running his hand through his hair. He took a deep breath.

The door opened, and a wraith soldier stood behind it. Their host would like to see them now. Todd assured they would be there shortly, and the soldier left.

"That was quick," John said. "You think it's good news?"

"I believe so," Todd said. "Shall we?"

John gave him a light nod, still a little disoriented, and they entered the corridor. As they walked side by side, John tried his best to refocus on their mission, the negotiations. It was the reason they were here in the first place. But he could feel Todd walking next to him, shoulder to shoulder, close enough to touch if he so chose. And he really wanted to.

In a few moments, they were standing in front of the big doorway leading to their host's chambers. There, Todd turned towards John and grinned in that predatory way of his, teeth glinting in the dim light.

"Don't think I'm done with you, John Sheppard."

John swallowed, then thought to hell with it. He closed the narrow space between them. Cupping his hand behind Todd's head, he planted a light kiss on his lips. They felt warm and firm, but after a moment they softened. It didn't feel strange at all.

"I'll hold you to it," he said as he pulled away. "Now let's go get us that army."


End file.
